Meet Our Team
Middletown Leadership Team
Julie Witkowski | Director
Julie Witkowski graduated from Kutztown University with a Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts with a concentration in painting. Since graduating, she has worked in the public and private education field from ages Kindergarten through Adult. She has also worked at Anthropologie creating the window display & store art. Julie specializes in creating abstract pieces with textural and sculptural elements. She keeps her art active by painting at live concerts and painting portraits of musicians. Outside of creating art, Julie is an advocate for rescue animals and loves to spend time at the beach with her rescue Pit Bull.
Ashley McCammon | Assistant Director of Education
Ashley McCammon is a cartoonist and art educator who graduated from Pratt Institute in 2013, with a BFA in Illustration. After years spent freelancing in comics and tabletop game art in both Texas and NJ, she began working in education at summer camp, curating a multi-subject art program for 1st through 9th grade girls, and mentoring her college-age staff on their own creative paths.
Ashley specializes in comic art with a strong basis in storytelling and character design, and believes that cartooning principles can bring wonderful new insights to all creative practices. She continues her art career with her ongoing webcomic, Obelisk, and regular study of historical costuming and life drawing. She hopes that her work at One River will make art feel accessible to anyone who wants to learn!
Laura Foley | Assistant Director of Member Services
A graduate of Fordham University with a degree in Visual Arts and Urban Studies, Laura began at One River as a Gallery and Student Services Coordinator. She now brings her experience working at the intersections of arts administration and community development to the role of Assistant Director of Member Services.
She has spent a year researching public art in East Harlem for a Public Art Initiative at a Community Development Corporation, as well as having notable experience working at two contemporary art galleries. A local from the area, she is committed to expanding fine arts communities such as One River Middletown by creating memorable and artful experiences.
In-Studio Educators
Alyssa Lopez
Alyssa Lopez, born and raised in New Jersey, began her education at F.I.T for Fashion Design and Illustration and completed her AA in the Arts at Brookdale. She also completed two apprenticeships. One under Tom Smith, a Marvel Studios Colorist on the Spider Man comics. The other, Richard Botto, an award winning equestrian portrait artist. Alyssa likes to work in all mediums. Her favorites are oil paint and pen and ink, but she frequently works with acrylic paint and pencil. Alyssas style of art is adaptive, which enables her to create illustrations with fine line details to abstract color-focused paintings. She has been featured in galleries in New York and New Jersey, most notably at Atelier Rosal. Alyssa has been involved in unique projects like creating art work for Cambrias Haven Cat Cafe, marathon carver for RISE of the JackO’lanterns, a chosen artist for Sing For Hope Project, and Live painting murals at various locations.
Nicole DeBarberie
Nicole DeBarberie is a passionate artist and a NJ state certified teacher of the arts. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts in NYC and completed her graduate studies with a MAT from the Monmouth University School of Education. Her accolades include the SVA Chairman’s Merit Award, Graduate Fellowship Award, and she was a NJ Distinguished Student Teacher Award nominee. With a dedicated passion for the process of creative problem solving, artistic exploration and over 15 years of teaching experience, her students have spanned the ages of 3 - 83 years old. She delivers art instruction tailored to diverse learning styles and strives to motivate students of all abilities and skill levels. Nicole specializes in ink, pastel, charcoal, watercolor, and mixed media.
Alexis Orfan
Alexis Orfan graduated from Montclair State University with her BFA in Animation/ Illustration. Her roots in art making stem from painting and drawing, although she enjoys working in all mediums. Through her education, she has been dedicated to experimenting with blending the traditional and digital worlds together as she believes there is always room for new and fresh ideas. Her work is mainly inspired by the world around us and often explores philosophical, abstract, and metaphysical ideas. Her passion for teaching art and giving people of all ages the space explore their inner artist started in 2014 and has since been a driving force in her career. She encourages self expression and experimentation through art and loves to share her skills with others. Outside of teaching, Alexis freelances for small businesses and collaborates with artists alike to create refreshing works of art through animation and projection mapping. She can usually be found painting in her studio or spending time in nature with her friends and family, and of course, her cats!
Amber Manoski
Amber Manoski is an artist and educator who received her BFA in Illustration from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Since 2017, Amber has been an arts educator and a freelance illustrator/animator. While she primarily works digitally, she finds joy in exploring a variety of artistic mediums from project to project. Amber’s personal art practice delves into themes of memory, home, and identity. She approaches these topics with a blend of humor and sensitivity. Outside of art education, Amber also works as a teaching assistant at her local elementary school helping students with reading, writing, and math. When she's not creating or teaching you can find her shopping for plants and silly knick knacks for her home, or hanging out with her lovely tuxedo cat, Luna.
Join Our Team
Career opportunities at One River School allow passionate artists, educators and lovers of art to share their love and knowledge of art and enhance the lives of people they connect with everyday.